Without any prompting from me, my Caucasian daughter chose Addy, Josefina, and an Asian Bitty Baby. She used to dress Josefina as a South Asian.

On the census forms there used to be a category of “Asian/Pacific islander”. The government hasbeen offering much more specific categories since then. I always thought “Asian” was a ridiculous term: like Indians and Chinese are the same race?

So I skipped the fight scene for nothing!

Re. the inaccurately overly nice house: let’s just imagine that they own it outright, so there is no mortgage. But the house being new instead of neglected and falling apart is a little off-putting. Maybe they wanted to underscore that this is our modern world and not Lyra’s world? And how come her room at Jordan Colle…

Lord Boreal is crossing into this-world Oxford, not London. I find him (the actor, actually) to be strangely intriguing, even though he is from the Dark Side.

It’s a fiction, taken to the fantastic. I mean, what is more unreal, being on the edge of our seats over a fictitious character, or talking via machine to a possibly fictitious person? What is reality, anyway...?

How about if they give 100% of their profits to a relevant charity?

I have mixed feelings about making a drama about a terrible tragedy. Yes, it can be edifying, and over the years I’ve seen a number of productions on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the Titanic, and others, but it also feels ghoulish and exploitative. An opera (!) was made about the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille…

Presumably it is due to the quality of my TV screen, but when the scenes are in very low light there are dark-colored haloes around Elliot. Even if it’s not the cinematographer’s intention, it is very trippy and appropriate.

In all seriousness, I’ve been following my daughter’s example and doing more-or-less Veganember — going vegan (mostly) between Thanksgiving and Xmas, on the theory that when Christmas and parties and family get-togethers happen one is likely to go a little nuts, so this will hopefully create a pause in between feasts.…

“The Old Magic of Christmas” by Linda Raedisch (Llewellyn), a well-researched and chatty survey of Germanic and Norse folklore: all the beings who make their appearance in winter and are not necessarily friendly.

The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.

If he’s never taken his helmet off with anyone he doesn’t know how to kiss! Of course, he can still use his hands...

I came late to this series and so only saw the last 3 or so episodes, and while I was well aware that she and Julian were not really going to go off into the sunset together, the behavior of her friend, selfishly inserting herself into the almost relationship, irritated me no end. I am somewhat in Eve’s realm, and the…

Getting mashed in Paris.

Overflowing.

Interesting thought... As hubby and I wondered one stoned evening, “Where does the software go when the hardware dies?”

I believe it has been explained that the E. coli contamination actually gets inside of the romaine as opposed to just being on the surface, which could be cleaned off.

She seems to be her mother’s daughter after all.

Seconded here. I kept flashing on the half-dozen of my forebears who served in the Canadian effort. As it happens, a 3-D version will be released soon.